Which numbers on a spec sheet matter?
Four numbers tell you most of what you need. The mining machine guide explains what’s inside the box and what else a full setup needs.
TH/s
Hashrate
Trillions of hashes a second. Sets your share of the network, and so what the machine mines.
J/TH
Efficiency
Energy per trillion hashes. Sets the highest power price at which the machine still covers its electricity.
W
Power draw
What it pulls around the clock. Decides the circuit, the cooling and the bill.
dB
Noise
Air-cooled industrial units are loud. Makers measure under their own conditions, so compare with care.
How do the machines compare on efficiency?
Plot hashrate against power and efficiency becomes a slope. Every dashed line is one J/TH value: machines on the same line need the same energy for the same work, whatever their size.
Hashrate vs power draw, with lines of equal efficiency
- Air-cooled
- Hydro-cooled
- Immersion-cooled
- Home device
The small devices sit far to the left: a few watts or a few hundred, a tiny fraction of the hashrate. The industrial machines cluster at 3 to 6 kW, and the spread between them is mostly efficiency.
Air, hydro, immersion or home device: what’s the difference?
| Type | How it’s cooled | Noise | Where it fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Air | Fans push air through the boards | Loud, often 70 to 80 dB | Farms, garages, sheds |
| Hydro | Coolant loops over the chips to a dry cooler | Quiet unit, pumps and cooler outside | Farms, some heat-reuse sites |
| Immersion | Boards sit in non-conductive fluid | Quiet | Farms with tanks |
| Home device | Small fans and heatsinks | Quiet to moderate | Desks, living rooms, as a heater |
Liquid-cooled models get more hashrate from one box because the chips stay cooler. They also make the heat easier to reuse. More in farm cooling and mining at home.
How is the daily estimate worked out?
The gross column uses hashprice, what one TH/s is expected to mine in a day. It moves with the network hashrate, the block reward and the BTC price.
power per day = watts × 24 h ÷ 1,000 × your price per kWh
0.0000004766BTC
BTC per TH/s per day
live estimate
$0.0403
USD per TH/s per day
live estimate
950 EH/s
Network hashrate
live, updated hourly
$84,627
BTC price
live, updated hourly
What does the estimate leave out?
The table shows gross against power and nothing else. A real decision has more lines:
The machine’s price
Plus shipping and import duty. It also loses value as newer models arrive.
Hosting
If it runs in someone else’s site, their rate replaces your tariff and may add fees.
Pool fees
Usually a few percent of what the machine mines.
Downtime
Reboots, repairs, curtailment and heat waves all cost hours.
Network growth
Hashrate tends to rise, so each TH/s mines a little less over time.
The halving
Every four years the block subsidy halves. See the halving guide.
Why does your tariff change the order?
Try it in the table. Sort by Net (gross minus power) at 3¢ per kWh, then slide to 20¢. At cheap power the machines with the most hashrate tend to come out on top, because the bill barely matters. As power gets pricier, efficiency takes over, and the less efficient models drop below zero first.
That’s why a single “best miner” list doesn’t exist. A machine that suits a hydro-powered farm can be the wrong choice for a garage on a household tariff, and the quiet home devices trade hashrate for being liveable.
How are the models chosen?
The table lists current SHA-256 models whose makers publish hashrate and power, plus a representative open-source home device. Figures are copied from the makers’ own pages, linked from each model name, and were checked in September 2026. Where a maker sells several hashrate versions, we list one typical version. A missing noise figure means the maker doesn’t publish one. The Bitaxe project publishes only a hashrate, so its power and noise are a reseller’s rating. Models marked as shipping later are on pre-order. Spot something out of date? Email [email protected].
Before buying any hardware, read how to buy safely. For the lottery side of small devices, see solo mining odds. Model guides: the Antminer S21 family and the Bitaxe.
Can you mine without buying hardware?
Yes. In the CloudMineCrypto app you mine for free with the free plan, ads, games, offers and daily check-ins, and your BTC balance grows while your plans run. No machine, no noise, no power bill, and you withdraw to your own wallet, Lightning included. Want more speed? Add an optional paid plan.
Good to know: rewards are estimates, move with the network and aren’t guaranteed. A plan doesn’t give you ownership of, or a share in, any specific hardware or pool. Terms apply.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most efficient Bitcoin miner?
Among the models on this page, the lowest rated energy use is 8.9 J/TH (Antminer S23 XP Hyd, Bitmain, pre-order, ships from November 2026), as of September 2026. Efficiency is only one column, though: sort the table by what matters to you, like noise or power draw.
Which Bitcoin miner should I buy?
We don’t recommend models. The right one depends on your electricity price, where it will run, how much noise you can live with and your budget. The table lets you compare rated specs and a live estimate at your own tariff.
What does J/TH mean?
Joules per terahash: the energy a machine needs for a trillion hashes. Lower is better. It decides the highest electricity price at which a machine still mines more than it costs to run.
Are manufacturer specs accurate?
They’re typical figures. Bitmain, for example, states real hashrate can vary by about 3% and power by about 5%. Noise is measured under the maker’s own conditions, so compare it between models with care.
How is the daily gross in the table worked out?
A machine’s hashrate divided by the live network hashrate, times 144 blocks a day, times the average block reward, times the BTC price. It excludes hosting, pool fees, downtime, repairs and the machine’s price, and it changes every day.
Can I mine Bitcoin without buying hardware?
Yes. In the CloudMineCrypto app you can mine for free with the free plan, ads, games, offers and daily check-ins, with no hardware or power bill. Rewards are estimates and aren’t guaranteed, and a plan isn’t ownership of any hardware.
Sources and further reading
- Antminer product pages (S21 XP, S21 XP Imm, S21+ Hyd, S21 XP Hyd, S21 XP+ Hyd, S23 XP Hyd) · Bitmain (manufacturer)
- Antminer S21 Pro specifications · Bitmain support (manufacturer)
- Antminer S21 specifications (also S21 Hyd and S21 Imm sheets) · Bitmain support (manufacturer)
- WhatsMiner product pages (M60S, M60S++, M70S, M66S, M63S++) · MicroBT (manufacturer)
- Avalon product pages (A15 Pro, A16 XP, Avalon Q, Mini 3, Nano 3S) · Canaan (manufacturer)
- Canaan unveils Avalon Q (rated noise) · Canaan via PR Newswire
- Bitaxe Gamma hardware (hashrate) · Bitaxe project (GitHub)
- Bitaxe Gamma listing (power and noise) · Solo Satoshi (reseller)
- Mining guide: solo and pool mining · Bitcoin developer documentation
Live figures on this page come from the CloudMineCrypto API or from the public blockchain data services named next to them, refresh on a schedule, and are labelled where they appear. This guide is educational and not financial advice. CloudMineCrypto is not an investment product; rewards in the app are estimates and aren’t guaranteed.
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